The beginning of 2016 was a wake up call for Louisiana. In trying to plug a budget deficit of nearly a billion dollars, Governor John Bel Edwards and the state legislature have rarely met eye to eye if not at all. Since higher education is not constitutionally protected, universities across the state will be feeling the effects of the cuts. For many universities such as Southeastern, this is nothing new.
The university will start the 2016-2017 fiscal year with a budget reduction of $1.4 million as compared to last year. According to Vice President of Administration and Finance Sam Domiano, the university has been receiving cuts in state funding since 2008. Since then, there has been a total shift in the way the university receives money. President Dr. John L. Crain addressed this fact in an open letter on Jun. 30.
“While the Regents’ distribution methodology for state funds is disappointing, I would like to remind everyone that we now receive nearly 82 percent of our total enterprise resources through self-generated tuition and fees, meaning that only about 18 percent of our resources come from the state,” said Crain.
This is a contrast to the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Then, the university received a majority of its funds from the state at $79.3 million. The self-generated fund was at $48.3 million. This means 62 percent of the budget was state generated and 38 percent was self-generated.
According to Domaino, over 22 degree programs have been discontinued. Salaries and operating services have been reduced. Suffering the worst are supplies, travel and acquisition and repairs at 56, 89 and 92 percent. Domaino said the university has been coping with cuts through forward planning.
“The university, early on, was strategic in how we were going to approach reductions,” said Domaino. “We made really tough decisions early on which have given us a better position since the reductions have continued more years than any of us expected them to continue.”
Crain also wrote the effect of this cut means the Lions will be the “masters of our own destiny,” but historically it has meant an increase in tuition. From 2008-2015, the cost of tuition at the university has more than doubled from $1,685 to $3,640.
In Louisiana law, the Board of Regents is the only authority with the power to raise tuition. According to Executive Director of Public and Governmental Affairs Erin Cowser, the Board of Regents has historically raised tuition across all of Louisiana keeping Southeastern’s tuition low compared to similar universities.
Students will face high tuition rates and will be going into the 2016 – 2017 semesters with TOPS only 70 percent funded. In an open letter to the state, Edwards addressed the implications of the shortfall.
“Students should thus be prepared for cuts to TOPS awards in the fall semester, with cuts that grow significantly worse in the spring semesters,” wrote Edwards.
Students with TOPS will have to be personally responsible for paying five percent of what the award originally covered for the fall. In spring it will jump to 51 percent.